Orlando, Clear and Humid, Granola

Don't shop at the Florida Mall. OK, compared to the UK, prices are great but compared to other malls nearby it's expensive. Now, this is entirely subjective, I haven't gone to all the Macy's in the local area to do a proper survey but our girls say it's expensive and even I can see the few shops I visit seem more pricey. The only places more expensive that I've seen are the tourist shops on I Drive.* Anyway here is my top 4 guide to shopping in Orlando.

4 - Mall at Millenia. Typically American mall, all the big players and nice boutique shops. Not to far from the top of I Drive*.

3 - Prime Outlets. At the very top of I Drive*. Still under re-construction from when it was Beltz, a good selection of the usual players - Timberland, RL, Gap et al. The main building has a wacky shop full of all those things you see on informercials at 3am. I wish I could remember its name but it's near KB Toys. It's one of those shops you get in outlet malls that masquerade as outlet shops but are really just full of tut.

2 - Premium Outlets. At the other end of I Drive just south of Sea World. Same as Prime really but slightly more shops. Of course, it's always a gamble at all of these places that they'll have anything in your size. Their website has print-off vouchers.

3 - Walmart. Mecca! Open 24 hrs (well the one on Sandlake and John Young parkway is) so you can go shopping at 5am when the body clock wakes you. Ok the clothes are George at Ada but for cheap stuff the kids'll wreck anyway it's perfect. Cheap DVDs (Region 1, of course), cheap games, cheap electronics and all sorts of boringly domestic stuff. Great for stocking up of food and domestics if you're self-catering and want a break from Denny's et al.

I've been to 5 in the Orlando/Kissimmee area and all have Brit food aisles so you can stock up of Weetabix and Marmite and English tea.

If you do go at 5am you'll probably find me practicing my quick draws in the power tools aisle or trying to work out if I can get a printer into my suitcase.

* - I Drive. I will have to have had a truly boring trip before I venture to that Kissmequick hell hole in search of a blog. Unless I'm off to Maggiano's Italian. Good.

San Fran Clear Skies Safeway Subs and Coke

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Boston 26 May - Scattered Thunderstorms KungPao Chicken Meal Deal For Lunch

Boston is a strange town. Very beautiful, very historic, very boring if you only have a morning to kill. That's the problem with one night lay-overs. All you do is spend the half-day off thinking about sleep.

So what did I do? After my usual 9am GMT wakeup call by my bladder (5am local) I decided to explore the local area - never having stayed in this hotel before. So a walk round the Back Bay area led to a few very nice boutiques, a few student bars and amazingly few coffee shops. On a early summer's morning it was very pleasant and worth the wander off the beaten track. Actually, considering the number of hotels in the area, I guess it is on the beaten track.

Otherwise, joining the junkies on The Common for an early morning stretch and retch is always pleasant.

So what to do on a half-day in Boston? Go to Cambridge. Much nicer, more coffee shops and nicer atmosphere. Take a historic Duck tour of Boston if you must but quite frankly you'll just be shown a bunch of buildings. (On the flip side, I used to live in Edinburgh and thought I knew the city until I took a touristy open-topped bus ride.)

If you do have the time I can heartily recommend going whale watching. There are several companies in Boston offering it. You leave 9ish and are back for 2ish. The best time to go is from April to October when the whales are common round the Stellwagen bank. Even if you don't see any it's still a nice cruise.

That'll do for a first post.

Travel Tip Of The Trip: If chatting to a colleague from work on an aeroplane - keep your voice to a low shout. The rest of us don't give a flying fuck about how long you can keep going just on caffeine to get the project finished. Yes this mean you, the fat bearded 22-year-old on the BD84 yesterday.